


Maker's Gift

by Gmanindia



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:08:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23876689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gmanindia/pseuds/Gmanindia
Summary: It was never a gift for him. Only a symbol of abnormality, a proof that he could never have a normal life or a family. Ironic that this gift was the key to saving his family now as well as the reason for trapping them.(Apostate mage/Rouge origins)





	Maker's Gift

"Slow down Arno!" 

"But I want to eat the cake as soon as we can." the pout on the little lad's face hardly moved his brother's stern expression. 

"You won't get to eat it after dessert so it's gonna take time anyway, how about I get you a pudding from that stall? Lisse will wake up if we go any faster." 

"I don't want pudding I wan-" a short yawn across from his brother's back interrupted him. 

"Are we going home yet, Gareth?" 

"Just after we satisfy your brother's sweet tooth, Lisse. Go to sleep, I'll carry you back home."

"Okay, bu-*yawn* I want a pudding too." the girl yawned as Gareth lightly poked her cheek. 

"Fine, fine. But you can't eat it before dinner, unless you want to get a tooth rot and go see the dentist dwarfs."

"No! I don't want a hammer in my mouth. Besides they all have so long beards that I'll get their hair stuck in my teeth with the bad teeth." 

"Glad you understand. So, Arno, can we go a bit slower lest you want to wake Lisse up again." Arno stomped his feet but his lips were already relaxed from the pout. 

"Just this once." Gareth smiled teasingly. 

"Knew you were a softie" 

"Shut up." turning his face with a 'hmph' Arno fell in stride with his brother and currently being piggybacked sister. The Grey family slowly advanced towards the confectionery stall. 

"Yo Gareth, enjoyed the fair."

"These little guys enjoyed it, Desmuth. I was just being dragged around." Gareth returned a stall owner's handwave as they passed. 

"Brother, why are we having a fair in lothering?" Arno asked as he took Gareth's hand that wasn't supporting Lisse. 

"Why are you asking? Don't you like it?" 

"I like it but... it's just... a fair in this time of the year is strange." 

"Ahh.. Well, we're having the fair in celebration of king Calian's victory against the darkspawn." Arno scrunched his eyebrows a little. 

"But they haven't won yet?" 

"It's more like a moral boost. The king was very confident that they'll end it all in a few days." 

"That sounds like idiocy to me, they don't have any proof that this is the last of darkspawn." 

"Don't let anyone else hear that or you won't get away with just getting your cheeks pinched. Anyway, I agree, but our responsibility is in lothering. We shouldn't concern ourselves with what the high and mighty king has planned." Silently nodding Arno turned back to watching the stalls as they walked. 

"Hold it right there, Gareth." a burly man and two people who looked like thugs in a glance blocked the route. 

"Hey, Simon! How are you? Haven't seen you since last time when you nicely returned the chantry sister's seal." the burly man seethed, his muscles convulsing unsightly. 

"You bastard. You took what we rightly stole, that gold seal would have fetch a hefty price. Do you know how hard that kind of catch is around here."

"No, I wouldn't know. I'm just the odd jobs guy, a chantry contract here, a favor for the guards there. Looking at you, I don't suppose that you are here to offer me a job."

"I'm here to take not offer something." Simon and his thugs unsheathed their swords. "Because of you most of my gang is in the gallows. I'll start the repayment with your life."

"Arno, take your sister." not a moment later Gareth had his dagger and long sword in his hands. Easily sidestepping the first thugs blind swing he stuck his leg out, unbalancing the thug. Before the thug could fall he brought his hand up with surprising speed and struck him with the longsword's butt. The second thug tried a diagonal strike but Gareth parried it with his dagger and followed the momentum with planting a knee in thug's abdomen. Still not giving up the thug tried to slice with his sword again, Gareth caught the hand and bent it. Ignoring the screams behind him, Gareth walked towards Simon. Sacred out of his wits but not stupidity Simon tried a defenceless slashing attack. Blocking it with his longsword, Gareth delivered a clean kick to his nuts. 

"Maybe if you had brought a fourth man, you could've at least nicked my face. Now if you don't want a more bloody repeat of this I suggest you stay away, next time it won't end with just your family jewls crushed." plastering a carefree smile Gareth turned only to have it drained from his face. Another thug was beside Arno and Lisse with his blade was swinging downwards. Gareth's left hand reacted and he readied his dagger, he was sure that he could kill the man in time. Fortunately or unfortunately that didn't matter as a dark-skinned man tackled the thug, eliminating him. 

"Arno, you guys okay?" after getting confirmation Gareth turned to the dark-skinned man. Heavy armor hugged his form along with a razor sharp sword on his waist and a shield with a strange symbol on his back. It felt a bit familiar to him. "Thanks for saving my brother and sister, I'm grateful." the man gestured towards Gareth's dagger. 

"You had it covered from what I witnessed, I simply saved a thug from losing his life." 

"If I would have had to take his life that means I'm still a greenhorn." the man continued, unabashed of Gareth's words. 

"Still, to take down three crooks with such swiftness and skill. You are definitely what we are looking for." Gareth shifted uncomfortably under the man's gaze. Why did this man gave him a bad feeling and that symbol... 

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Duncan of the Gray Warde-." 

"Not interested." Duncan was unfazed by the interruption. 

"May I ask why? Many consider it an honour." 

"I prefer survival than honour. Also I should be asking you, why a small-time merc like me, there are many more guys with more kills on their name compared to me."

"Your reputation here tells me otherwise. That man from earlier, you defeated his whole gang singlehandedly did you not." 

"No matter. I do not wish to become a Grey warden." Duncan's lips slightly bent downwards. 

"I could invoke right of conscription and take you in." Gareth took a strong step forward and stared Duncan with an abnormal smile. 

"Try it. You'll have a dozen dead wardens just trying to secure me. If you really want a disobedient soldier that much, you are welcome to do it. I will not leave my only family to fight darkspawn." Duncun gritted his teeth in frustration. Why couldn't everyone see what was better for the world. He could respect Gareth devotion to family but he needed devotion to all of humanity. 

"You owe Grey Wardens. If it were not for us you'd be dead in a blight." 

"I've already paid them back with all the taxes that go towards funding your order I will no-" 

"AHHHHH-" the two jumped back as one screaming Simon ran through the space they were just in, patting his ass which was on fire for some reason in a panic. Hearing giggles behind him, Gareth turned to the two culprits. 

"He..*giggle*.. was trying to... *giggle* attack you so." Arno started, trying but failing to suppress his giggles with his hands. 

"We.. *giggle* set his pants on fire!" Lisse raised both her hands like she triumphed a dragon. Duncan watched the pair amused but Gareth's eyes were trained on the hands covering the giggles. No one beside him seemed to notice the slight glow in their palms. 

"We are going home." both kids recoiled from the unexpected harsh tone. 

"Bu-" 

"We'll talk at home, now come on." Gareth took Arno and Lisse's hands. "Grey Warden." stopping only to give Duncan a slight bow, he left the place as quickly as he could. 

________________________________________________

Gareth glared at his siblings. It angered him to see all his warnings wasted. "I told you to not use magic in public." being an apostate wasn't good when the whole country condemns you to isolation for life from your family. 

"Hey we saved you don't b-" 

"SHUT UP!" Arno flinched back. Gareth never yelled at them, not even when they broke his expensive hunting bow. "If someone noticed your magic then you'll get sent to the circle. For 8 years we managed to fool them and now one low life thief and his cheap flammable pants ruined it all. You're going to be taken and... and I'll be all alone again." his head dropped down in his palms, tears threatening to leak out. He cursed the maker, why did they had to have this ability. This ability that brought nothing but pain and despair. In the swirling mess of emotions he felt a warm hand grasping his own and he raised his face. 

"We are sorry." Lisse whispered solemnly, her eyes looking straight at her brother. "Not for doing magic, we did it for you, to help you and we'll do it again." her hand reached and wiped a stray tear. "We are sorry for making you sad brother. We know how hard you try, how much you had to sacrifice to keep us." another hand grabbed his free one. 

"Even if I never asked for some of those things. I know you did everything to make us happy." Arno wasn't quite meeting Gareth's eyes but his tone was firm. 

"So we want to help you whenever we can, just like today. We don't want to see you sad when you make us this happy. We sorry for making you sad, forgive us." Gareth smiled in defeat. 

"This is almost unfair, you guys know all the right buttons to press." he softly wrapped each arm around both. "It's okay, I should've paid attention to ugly. I let my guard down talking to that Grey Warden."

"Grey Warden!? Are we in trouble? Did he come to recruit you?." Lisse was always the smart one, Gareth knew hiding wouldn't do anything so he told them everything. 

"We would probably need to leave. Sorry, we had been here for 2 years and you guys had gotten settled in."

"Moving means new friends so I don't mind, besides Arno and you'll be there too. I can settle anywhere if you are with me." 

"Yeah, moving also means travelling and that means adventure. I'm excited than anything." Gareth laughed. 

"Alright, get your belongings in order. In the meantime I promised you two sometime tonight." 

"Cake!"  
"Cake!" 

"That's right, now get packing."

________________________________________________

"This is so yummy." they were all sitting around the dining table. The house wasn't that well furnished but they didn't really have any essentials missing, at least for the kids. Gareth watched as Lisse bit into her cake hungrily, kicking her feet up and down with joy. 

"You should care about your table manners a bit more." Arno was disapproving but failed to notice that he had bits stuck to his face. This happy family scene was everything that Gareth wished long ago. Picking up his piece Gareth bit into i-

*smash*

The window broke, something was thrown inside. Smoke bomb, Gareth noticed. With a hiss the whole room filled with suffocating black gas. Gareth heard the door break too. 

"Hey, who are you? Brother!" 

"Lisse!" Gareth yelled in the smoke. 

"Let go of me! Gareth they are tak- mphm" 

"Arno!" Gareth saw shadowing the smoke cloud sticking to the room floor. He feet tapped the ground and he perused, the shadows attacked. He managed to take down 5 of them but a blindsided attack from behind had him kneeling on floor. Soon his arms were restrained. "Let me go! Let me go!" he knew the sensation of the armor his enemies wore, even after all this time. "You murderers, bring my brother and sister back or I swear I'll kill all of your order." 

"I'm afraid they have already departed from her, Gareth." Gareth followed the familiar voice. 

"You." he spat out the words. 

"Are you sure you want him alive Grey Warden? He seems troublesome" the Templar from his side asked Duncan. 

"Yes, this was our deal was it not? I'll tell you about apostate mages and you'll get me my recruit." 

"You are insane if you think I'm going to work with you after this." 

"I believe you have no choice. You see, I have some connections with these Templars and if say they can make your siblings tranquil." Gareth's eyes narrowed dangerously. 

"You wouldn't dare." 

"I wouldn't have if you left me another choice." Gareth stared down hard trying to gauge the Warden's resolve. He shrugged of his captors arms. 

"I'll come." he stood up walking towards the door but stopped in front of Duncan. "When this is over, I'm going to give you a worse fate than a tranquil." he turned and left through the door. Leaving the place he called home. He almost missed Duncan's whisper. 

"I'm sorry."


End file.
